July: Three Egg Dilemma
by Morabo Morojele

Review by Tonderai Chiyindiko

About the story and the connection to ourselfes 

In Morabo Morojele’s character driven award-winning masterpiece Three Egg Dilemma, we are introduced to an eclectic bunch of colourful personalities some of whom come off as familiar neighbours, old friends or even estranged relatives we might have encountered at one or other point in our lives as readers due to their familial-like relatability and quirky idiosyncrasies.

The people and their names 

One of these key characters is EG or Mohlala (also referred to as “Eggs”), the protagonist and narrator who has an uncanny omnipresent quality, and through whose eyes much of the story is told. It also through his numerous and often humorous interactions with the other characters that we glean juicy details in terms of how and why they got those names and nicknames as well as other details about place, time and the dangerous political climate of this unnamed yet by all accounts all-too-familiar country.

There is also 'Mota and Sponkie, whose relationship with EG is primarily that of friend with means, one who begrudgingly provides a venue for their nefarious activities as and when they need to happen, and who in turn not only gets to share knowledge of their secret affair not as a reluctant collaborator but a partner-in-crime of sorts.

In characters such as Puleng who later gets the name Pearl ‘bestowed’ on her and which she somewhat happily embraces for it allows her access, respectability and at times leftovers such as tuna or choice steak discarded by hotel patrons which she shares with her erstwhile benefactor, EG. Her story, just like that of Mamakara or Mada, the shebeen queen and shop proprietor, also has a tragic end as the vortex of violence perennially haunts these affable characters either at the AK47 butt of the trigger-happy soldiers or the sharp Okapi knives of Zuluboy and his gang.

There is also Sticks, the quintessential entrepreneur perennially peddling his boiled eggs, quick to quote the odd bible verse whilst trying to con his clients into parting with their hard-earned cash by finding out how much they weigh on his weight scale – all the while hoping to score a free beer or two from EG or anyone else for that matter.

Another character is “Eyebrows”, named such most probably without her input or consent but whose real name is Melita and Mada’s assistant both in the tavern and the shop – a tryst with our protagonist EG on one drunken night seems to be one of the reasons she takes unsolicited interest in his affairs, something Eggs he neither welcomes nor appreciates.

Mkhulu and Mafisa both live on EG’s property, as do other unnamed tenants who either pay their rent late or do not pay at all much to Mohlala’s chagrin though he cannot do much about it because even he is not spared from the vagaries of their collective precarious existence.

Finally, we also encounter Tankiso who is also called “Latrine”, a womaniser of note who often cajoles a reluctant EG to participate in his exploits with women he finds in places of ill-repute. There is also the French-speaking Dr. Lakutenga or Doctor Neighbour, real name Jean-Marie, a victim of displacement from some other unnamed country who also often finds himself at Mada’s tavern for a drink or to catch up with the locals.

Reward

Three Egg Dilemma won the respected University of Johannesburg (Main Prize) for South African Writing in English in 2023. Morabo Morojele’s other book How We Buried Puso was published in 2006.


* Morabo Morojele sadly passed away on 20 May 2025 aged 64.